Affective / Social / Cognitive Psychology

Learn more about the Psychology Department

Our program in affective, social and cognitive psychology prepares you for a career conducting research into how people feel, think, and behave in response to others. We champion a collaborative, integrative and cross-disciplinary approach centered around innovative research. During your time at DU, you can expect to work closely with faculty and peers in labs.

Our approach to psychological science fosters intellectual curiosity and innovation, invests in people in a supportive and inclusive environment and serves the public good. Our recent graduates hold positions as active researchers and clinicians in colleges, universities, nonprofit research organizations and the private sector.

Concentration

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

The specialization in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience is open to students in any of the graduate programs in Psychology. It is designed to equip students with advanced knowledge and training in an interdisciplinary approach to neuroscience and psychology.

The coursework covers diverse fields and research methods including neuroimaging, computational modeling, computer programming, psychophysiology, neuropsychology, neuroendocrinology and behavioral genetics. The program prepares students to be leaders in collaborative science approaches.

The PhD program in Affective, Social and Cognitive Psychology offers:

Core faculty with interests across a wide range of sub-disciplines, as well as affiliated faculty and opportunities to work with faculty in developmental and clinical psychology programs.
A variety of options for lab work, including emotion regulation, decision making, social perception, affect and social influence, and the cognition behind trust and dishonesty.
Research and travel funding, as well as the opportunity to participate in faculty grant efforts.

Explore the areas that will shape your future in the field of psychology.

Are you ready to begin learning about a PhD in Affective, Social and Cognitive Psychology at DU?

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Degree Requirements

Students earn a master’s degree on their way toward obtaining the PhD; however, students are not required to obtain an official master’s degree.
For the MA, you will complete at least 28 credits of the 45 minimum number of credits in content coursework, which excludes Independent Study and Independent Research credits.
For the PhD, you will complete a total of 120 credit hours, as well as non-coursework requirements including a master's research paper or thesis and oral defense, teaching, comprehensive exams or Conceptual Analysis of Dissertation Area (CADA) paper, dissertation prospectus and dissertation oral defense.

See the DU Graduate Bulletin for full course requirements.